1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inspecting jig for a wire harness adapted to hold a connector of the wire harness ensuring electrical continuity of the wire harness with terminals, when the wire harness is subjected to continuity inspection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, the wire harness provided with a plurality of electric wires and a connector containing terminals which are respectively connected to ends of the electric wires has been checked as to whether or not electrical continuity exists between each of the aforesaid terminals and another terminal. Thus, quality of the wire harness has been determined.
Heretofore, check of the wire harness of this type has been conducted in the following steps. One of the terminals of the wire harness is selected, and electricity is supplied to the selected terminal to determine whether potentials of the other terminals are high or low. The electricity is supplied to all the terminals in order, and in all the cases, the potentials of all other terminals except the supplied terminal are determined in order. Thus, mutual electrical continuity among all the terminals can be grasped.
By comparing the mutual electrical continuity among the terminals thus grasped as described above with the electrical continuity among the terminals in case that the wire harness is normal, whether the wire harness is normal or abnormal, and an abnormal portion if any has been detected.
In order to check the wire harness in the described manner, an inspecting jig 41 as shown in FIG. 6, for example, has been employed. The inspecting jig 41 as illustrated in FIG. 6 holds the connector and ensures electrical continuity with respective terminals in the connector.
The inspecting jig 41 includes a base plate 42 mounted on a substantially flat table or the like, an operating lever 43, a continuity checking part 44, and a connector receiving part 45. The base plate 42 is provided with a pair of side walls 46 which are arranged in parallel to each other.
The operating lever 43 is rotatably supported on respective one ends of the side walls 46. The connector receiving part 45 which is provided at the other ends of the side walls 46 holds the connector in a state where an opening of a terminal inserting chamber is opposed to the operating lever 43. In the illustrated embodiment, the connector can be freely engaged in and detached from the connector receiving part 45 in a vertical direction.
The continuity checking part 44 is provided in a middle part of the side walls 46 and supported by the side walls 46 so as to move close to and apart from the connector receiving part 45. The continuity checking part 44 has a plurality of contact elements 47 which are adapted to get in touch with the terminals in the connector respectively.
The inspecting jig 41 is further provided with a link mechanism which is not shown in the drawing. The link mechanism interconnects the operating lever 43 and the continuity checking part 44. When the operating lever 43 is operated to rotate, the continuity checking part 44 slides to be brought in contact with or to be detached from the connector receiving part 45.
The connector is placed on the connector receiving part 45 in the inspecting jig 41, and then, the operating lever 43 is operated to bring the continuity checking part 44 in a vicinity of the connector so as to ensure electrical continuity between the terminals of the connector and the aforesaid contact elements 47. Then, by supplying electricity to the terminals in order by way of the contact elements, the electrical continuity between the terminals can be confirmed.
However, in the described inspecting jig 41, the continuity checking part 44 is slidably supported by the side walls 46 and so on so as to move close to and apart from the connector receiving part 45. Therefore, in order to allow the continuity checking part 44 to slide, the inspecting jig 41 tends to be increased in size. Because of the increased size of the inspecting jig, an area required for installing the inspecting jig in a production line of the wire harness has been also increased.
Moreover, because there have been provided the link mechanism and so on for enabling the continuity checking part 44 to slide by rotating the operating lever 43, the structure of the jig 41 has become relatively complicated, and components of the jig 41 itself tend to be increased in number. Further, maintenance performance for the jig 41 itself is likely to be deteriorated because of the complexity of the mechanism, and the cost for the jig 41 itself tends to rise because of the increase in number of the components.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide an inspecting jig for a wire harness which can be made compact and in which number of components can be restrained thereby avoiding deterioration of maintenance performance and a rise of cost.
In order to attain the above described object, there is provided, according to the present invention, an inspecting jig for a wire harness for inspecting electric continuity of terminals in a connector, comprising a jig body having an opening into which the connector is adapted to be inserted, a continuity checking part adapted to be electrically connected to terminals of the connector when the connector has entered into the opening, a lever member swingably fitted to the jig body and including a locking portion which is adapted to be locked with an end face of the connector when the connector has entered into the opening, thereby to keep the terminals and the continuity checking part in an electrically connected state, after the locking portion has been locked with the end face, and biasing means for biasing the lever member in a direction in which the locking portion is locked with the end face of the connector.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the lever member is provided with an operating portion for disengaging the lock between the locking portion and the end face, the operating portion projecting outward from an outer face of the jig body.
According to a third aspect of the invention, the locking portion projects outward from the opening in a direction of inserting the connector, and includes a slanted face which is opposed to the connector when the connector is being inserted into the opening and gradually slanted toward an interior of the opening with respect to the inserting direction.
According the first aspect of the invention, the lever member is swingably provided in the jig body, and the locking portion of this lever member is locked with the end face of the connector, whereby electrical continuity with the terminals can be ensured. There will be no need of the continuity checking part or so which is adapted to slide in order to maintain the electrical continuity with the terminals.
Moreover, due to a fact that the lever member having the locking portion to be locked with the end face of the connector is swingably provided in the jig body, a mechanism necessary for electrically connecting the continuity checking part to the terminals will be simplified. In addition, since the locking portion is locked with the end face of the connector, there will be no need of connector holding means such as a recess in the connector.
According the second aspect of the invention, since the operating portion is projected outward from the outer face of the jig body, the locking portion can be easily disengaged from the lock with the end face of the connector, by operating the operating portion against biasing force of the biasing means.
According the third aspect of the invention, because the slanted face is opposed to the connector, the slanted face and the connector are abutted against each other when the connector is inserted into the opening. Because of the slanted contour of the slanted face toward the interior of the opening, as the connector is further inserted into the opening, the lever member is guided by the slanted face to swing in a direction in which the locking portion is disengaged from the end face of the connector. Then, after the connector has been completely received in the opening, the locking portion is locked with the end face of the connector by means of the biasing force of the biasing means.